Resource Allocation with Project Manager Control

by Keith C. Crandall, Univ of California, Berkeley, CA, USA,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Construction Research Applied to Practice

Abstract:

There are some logical reasons behind the partial acceptance of the resource allocation research by the construction industry. These reasons are based on field experience and the daily deviations from the planning process. (Deviations result from a variety of external forces; with weather, changed conditions, material delays, and non-availability of resources as typical of these forces. ) The assumption that the schedule (network) logic is fixed is another major deficiency in the resulting allocation algorithms. Field managers live in an environment of change and are accustomed to field problems which are unforeseen, not part of the planning process, yet greatly impact the schedule as they consume much of the float that exists in the schedule. It was through the interface with these field managers and with the assistance of their planning and scheduling department that the Guy F. Atkinson Company (GFA Co. ) of San Francisco made the decision in 1982 to improve their resource allocation algorithm. The author participated in this exercise and this paper indicates the inputs to this process, the general characteristics of the algorithm, and typical results obtained during the testing phase.

Subject Headings: Resource allocation | Algorithms | Managers | Construction management | Scheduling | Resource management | Project management

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